The present invention relates generally to X-ray sources, and in particular to a technique for generation of X-rays based on inverse Compton scattering.
For X-ray generation, conventional X-ray sources generally rely on either the Brehmsstrahlung radiation or synchrotron radiation. In the former case, radiation is produced when energetic electrons are decelerated by heavy materials as in common X-ray tubes. Where synchrotron radiation is desired, radiation is produced by ultrahigh energy electron beams passing through magnetic undulators or dipoles in a storage ring synchrotron source. The X-rays produced in common X-ray tubes have drawbacks that pose limitations in their use. For example, Brehmsstrahlung radiations are generally of relatively low power, and comprise long pulses or a continuous wave. Moreover, such radiation typically comprises fixed polarization, incoherent radiation that is not tunable. Synchrotron-generated X-rays also have certain limitations. For example the X-rays generated by the synchrotron source are generally broadband, incoherent, low energy, fixed polarization and untunable. In addition, such sources require high energetic electron beams, which in turn require large and expensive facilities.
Inverse Compton scattering (ICS) is another technique, which has been successfully used to generate X-rays, by using linear accelerators and large, high-powered lasers. In fact, ICS based X-ray sources, due to their coherence and spectral properties offer significant benefits in lower dosage, higher-contrast, and better resolution over conventional X-ray tube technologies. However, current ICS based X-ray sources are typically very large and complex. For example, the lasers typically used in this process are known as T3 (Table-Top Terawatt) lasers and produce short pulses of extremely high energies. These lasers are very complex and require vast numbers of optical elements to operate.
It is therefore desirable to provide a compact and an efficient ICS system that requires lower power lasers and fewer optical elements.